David Flores

And to justify the people on these boards having a job. Most of the money generated from these laws are coming from real shops. It's hard to squeeze money out of people who operate outside of this system ie.. tattoo out of their house with no license.

One of the guys who tattoos me here in Portland was just talking about making a trip up to Olympia to get tattooed by Marco. I hadn't heard that much tattooing in Olympia, besides that Capn Lou guy, but Marco has some amazing stuff, hope I make it up there some day.

@cfgsteak this wing shack/brewery from out here is opening up in Denver. Fire on the Mountain Buffalo Wings - Denver - Restaurant/Cafe - Denver, CO | Facebook

Dan is tattooing in Oakland and San Francisco right now out of Blackheart and Tattoo 13. He comes back to Portland from time to time but don't think he is taking any new clients if that makes sense.

Mav Mess at Deluxe Tattoo, Portland Oregon, a devout christian and a great tattooer and only one state away from you.

They say the same kinds of things in Oregon, that they are going to crack down on people tattooing out of their house and attach these huge fines and penalties to getting caught, but really no one is there to enforce them. They seem more concerned with discussing mundane policy changes for established tattooers that really do nothing to increase public health The last person I heard of being caught for tattooing out of their house only got caught because the minor he was tattooing, overdosed on heroin and died while getting the tattoo at his house. Funny how the news story had more emphasis on tattooing than drugs, which is what killed that poor girl. But yeah this shit is out of hand, people shouldn't be running tattoo operations out of their house. I am not talking about the 16 year olds with homemade machines or even what people in shops do for fun on their off time , I am talking about grown ass people trying to make a living and portray themselves as a viable alternative to a shop. I don't think it's a horrible idea to limit the amount of shops in a city,although I can see the conflict of interest in leaving that solely up to shop owners in that particular city, but on the other hand what is the alternative have some committee who knows nothing about tattooing basically just let anyone in that will pay them off. Every week some new shops opens up, they are lucky if they last till winter, then it gets slow they fold and another shops opens up in spring does the same thing. I don't have the answer, but this whole feel sorry for me I tattoo out of my house thing is pretty lame. It's been illegal the whole time, they should be lucky they get a warning.

I would agree with the previous recommendations for sure, although each one tattoos in a very different style. Here is another shop I would recommend checking out. Beelistic Tattoo - Cincinnati Ohio Tattoos and Body Piercing

I was talking to a tattooer friend of mine who just bought $2000 worth of motorcycle equipment (Helmet, Jacket, boots etc) from a shop right down the street from where he tattoos. The guy from the bike shop comes in a couple weeks later looking for a quote on a sizeable tattoo. I think my buddy threw a figure of about $500 at him and I guess he was floored at how at tattoo could cost that much. My buddy told him he thought the same thing about the equipment he sells, only difference is I can go online and find some website that sells the same quality of motorcycle stuff for cheaper, but he would rather buy from someone in the neighborhood. The guy didn't get it, maybe one day a light bulb will go off ?

I think this idea could make an amazing tattoo, but I think the key if you want one solid piece is to find two guys working at the same shop and make this a total collaboration. I am kind of in the process of doing this with my back. I had a couple tattoos at the top of my shoulders but they kind of work with what I am going, but basically I split my back in half, had one guy do top one guy do the bottom but had they rough sketched the whole are so they can tie both tattoos together. So far I have one more session left on the top half ( eagle) then I get to start on bottom half (pharaoh's horses). The hardest part about it for me is getting it done at the shop I work at is I only have time to work on it when it is slow and I am usually on there on your typical busy days. If you are going to travel to get this done I would make sure you commit to being able to do a session at least once a month and possibly getting back to back sessions on the weekend ( one with each person), especially once the outline and/ or outlines are healed and you don't have to worry so much about going over skin that was just freshly tattooed.

I am still waiting to become a champion. I am guessing it must be 600 posts.

There are a ton of great tattooers in the bay area you are lucky. I would follow the advice of Blackheart for sure. In addition to Tim Lehi, I would check out Jeff Rassier's portfolio (also at Blackheart). Also in October the State of Grace Convention brings some of the top names from all around the world to San Francisco for a weekend, so in conclusion San Francisco is a great place to be if you want a tattoo.

I always recall people having tattoos, but the first time I saw someone getting tattooed I was about 13 in my friends kitchen, homemade tat gun and ballpoint pen ink and 40's of King Cobra, now it's a party. I call it a tat gun because it was not a machine by any stretch of the imagination. That was the first time when it clicked in my head that anyone could go get a tattoo. Fast forward a few years and my first apartment was behind a pawn shop, a metal club, and Snake's Tattoo in Colorado Springs. My co worker (I was in construction at the time) was piecing together a sleeve at the time so that was really when I started hanging out in tattoo shops.

I just realized how much of a beer snob I am. A friend left some Killians Irish Red in my fridge from last night and I am pretty sure it will stay in my fridge for a long time. I didn't want to give him too much shit, but I didn't even know they still made that stuff. Funny if it was High Life or PBR I would probably already drank it.

Going to get tattooed tomorrow by Josiah Laughlin | Facebook, @ Imperial Tattoo here in downtown Portland. He's a good guy and puts on a solid tattoo. He has some killer tattoos from Henning Jorgensen, Chris Trevino and Tony Hundahl among others and always has some good stories to share.

April 15th we close. It has only been a couple weeks but it seems like a couple months. So much to do, and worry about, but still can't wait to move into our new place. Our new rule is to go to a restaurant in our new neighborhood every time we go out to get the lay of the land. Had to visit some tattoo shops in the area as well.

Good those are my favorite cigars.

I have one of my feet tattooed. So many people talk about how bad it hurts but it seems like the popular first tattoo for young girls so I had to find out. Yeah that shit does hurt, but now that I have one foot done, I kind of have to do the other. Shark is a good idea. My friend has a tattoo of a shark that says mom below it on his foot, because his mom got attacked by a shark when she was a teenager. They always come in and get tattooed together.

Maybe you just discovered an untapped market.

I can definitely see your point, but I guess what bugs me is that this whole budget thing was started under the premise of not having any money. I have gone to a shop with $200 bucks and got $200 tattoo because that is what I had on me.I understand not spending 2K on a tattoo, but if you want a $400-500 tattoo save up, don't lowball someone into doing it for $300, with some story about feeding your kids so you can drop 2K on a bike. Oh well I it's after five I think it's time for a beer here.

I think what people have been trying to tell you the whole time is if you want a good tattoo you have to pay the going rate, just like you did with the bike. Not being able to afford a tattoo and just being too cheap to pay for a good tattoo are two different things. You know a tattoo is permanent. I am not the guy who flies across the world to get tattoos and i don't need to get tattooed by famous tattooers I just know that tattooers have to make a living like anyone else, they have mortgages and children just like you. What you are setting yourself up for is a mediocre or bad tattoo, which I hope is not the case, but you get what you pay for. Not trying to be a dick but if you used your cycling hobby analogy, I would find it very disrespectful and probably ask you to leave the shop, so I would leave that part out.

Yeah the 6 hour time slot was supposed to be for 2 people to get tattooed, but my friend ended up having to get tattooed by another guy at the shop, and got a way cooler tattoo in my opinion. It was actually more than 6 hours as he didn't finish and had another appointment, so I came back and had about 30-45 mins more done a month later. But that's how it goes sometimes, I suppose. i mean i have gotten more than my share of good prices when it comes to tattoos.

There is such a thing as a Light handed tattooer? I always thought it was a myth, like Bigfoot or the abimondible snow man. Actually there was one guy who tattooed me with quite a light hand, but it took him 6 hours to do a 2 hour tattoo (of course he charged by the hour), so by the end I think it hurt just as bad as any other tattoo session.

If someone wants to give over creativity, I tell them to pick it off the wall or show them the stack of original hand painted flash that there just is no room for out in the lobby and tell them to choose from that. That's what you do with stuff you would like to tattoo paint it, right? Otherwise they can come up with an idea and have something drawn for them, which is totally cool too.

Here is the little rant which I imagine I was mentioned here in case you were wondering. Keep in mind is a broad statement on a broad topic. http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/war-stories/34-tattooers-only-most-hated-tattoo-requests-page12.html#post30948

Don't know if this has been brought up, but when people ask for something feminine it kind of confusing to me, usually because each person means something different and usually has nothing to do gender. First usually the person is asking you to give gender characteristic to either an intimate object like a ship, a gender neutral design like a flower, or animal where male and female aren't really that different, my example of this would be an owl. Usually it's not a case of slapping a pair of tits or an evening dress or a tiara on the tattoo. I mean usually they are referring to not making the drawing as bold or to not use as much black, sometimes they want the drawing more new school or cartoon like. Sometimes it's the colors they want you to use in the tattoo. I usually point out that femininity can't really be lost by getting a tattoo, which is what people are putting into these young girls heads.